Sales of the 10–14 passenger Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra, which first flew in 1937, had proved disappointing, despite the aircraft's excellent performance, as it was more expensive to operate than the larger Douglas DC-3, already in widespread use.

[2] In order to improve the type's economics, Lockheed decided to stretch the aircraft's fuselage by 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m), allowing an extra two rows of seats to be fitted.

[5] As hoped, the extra seats greatly improved the Model 18's economics, reducing its seat-mile costs to a similar level to that of the DC-3, while retaining superior performance.

[21][22][23][24][25][26][27] In January 1943, Lockheed Lodestar Mk.II EW986,[28] c/n 2154, in the service of the Royal Air Force, overshot and crashed 3 km south of Heliopolis, Egypt.

[30] On 22 March 1958, Mike Todd's private plane Lucky Liz, named after his wife Elizabeth Taylor, crashed near Grants, New Mexico.

The plane, a twin-engine Lockheed Lodestar, suffered engine failure while being flown overloaded, in icing conditions at too-high an altitude for the loading.

Investigation determined the crash a result of a malfunction of the electric elevator trim tab, which caused the loss of the plane's right wing during flight.

Nine parachutists and two crew-members were killed while 13 were able to parachute to safety after the pilots lost control and entered a vertical descent from 12,500 feet.

Investigation determined the crash a result of a failure of the operator and pilot-in-command to assure proper load distribution during the parachute drop.